FIREFLY MMORPG

POSTED BY: SnakeCharmer
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 4, 2008 17:18
VIEWED: 61095
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SNAKECHARMER

Thursday, December 7, 2006 11:58 PM

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72263-0.html?tw=rss.index

Read. Drool. Dream.

ZZETTA13

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:17 AM

I see this as a good thing but I still want the cast and crew back on television or the BDS (big damn screen).

F*X is milking every penny out of something that should be back on the airwaves and they know it.

Z

BIONICBATMAN

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:21 AM

I think this might be a ploy to see if this does good they might consider bringing it back. Its a long shot but it could be done.

KELAI

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:35 AM

Eeee, I'm excited!

On FOX---

Forgive but dont forget

--

//breathe today So many lies s w i r l i n g
All A R O U N D You
you're S U F F O C A T I N G
the e m p t y shape in Y O U
s t e a l s your b r e a t h

SUCCATASH

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:37 AM

Great news! And nice to see this website mentioned as well.

"Gott kann dich nicht vor mir beschuetzen, weil ich nicht boese bin."

SERGEANTX

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:48 AM

.....

Now we just have to figure out how to make sure they don't f it up.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

WHIMSICALNBRAINPAN

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:51 AM

Thanks for telling us about this!

"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." http://whimsicalnbrainpan.blogspot.com/

MONKSDAD

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:54 AM

awesome

"And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic lowlife community."

INIRE

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:56 AM

amazink!

"Kaylee, find me that kid takin' a dirt nap with baby Jesus; we need a hood ornament"

SOULOFSERENITY

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:23 AM

*jaw drops*

Oh. My. God.

______________________

Soul, Security Chief of the Sereni-Tree, Captain of Destiny.

Mantichorus: "So is there a reason they call you 'Soul'?"
Soul (after a long pause): "Yeah. Because I have one."

http://havenofsouls.livejournal.com/

PEULSAR5

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:38 AM

So, should I quit my job now--or just wait till the game comes out?

HERA7

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:50 AM

Shiny!

I hope that they involve Joss & Company in the development and have fans on the development team.

Hera7

Mechanic & Cook
"So thats where that bolt went to."

FREEMONT

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:56 AM

Well this is very shiny, not only will it feed my "jones" but it keeps us flying.

REGINAROADIE

Friday, December 8, 2006 2:53 AM

I'm not an ar-tard.

**************************************************
"We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?"
"Four"
You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?"
"We would destroy the Cybermen with ONE Dalek. You are superior in only one respect."
"What is that?"
"You are better at dying."

Trash talk between a Cyberman and a Dalek. It doesn't get any better than that.

SIGMANUNKI

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:00 AM

Yes, it's shiny that a game is being made. BUT, it basically kills (legally speaking) any other mod or game project out there just like the whole t-shirt fiasco. As someone who has put in a fair chunk of time into one of these things, I'm rather irritated. Also, it's only for Windows, so I can't play it. So yah, I'm a bit bitter.

Shiny for the rest of you guys though.

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

ROXYFREEFALL

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:11 AM

Ok, getting very excited now! There goes Final Fantasy XI. Found my new MMORPG!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.myspace.com/roxy_freefall

13

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:12 AM

If you're reading this, BDVersers:

CAN YOU SAY 'DANCER ONLINE'!!!

LONDINIUMSSHINYHAT

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:21 AM

about time i had something to completely eat my life and destroy my Big Damn Future.

Ah well. it's worth it.

especially if i can go reaver, PvP, and eat everyone.

cause that would be wicked sweet.

-Yeah, and I'd like to be king of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat. Now MOVE!

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:26 AM

this just seems too good to be true; therefore I'm gonna keep playing anarchy online until I get at least 5 ppl who all agree that it is great.

What do you make of the nylon dot cardigan and plastic mule rest?

ZAKNRFAMA

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:34 AM

I think my face just melted. I cannot wait.

13

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:43 AM

Playing a reaver would be sweet. Remember, they have British accents and huge vocabularies off-camera.

DERANGEDMILK

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:43 AM

I would be excited but its only for windows. Screw that.
-e

"Storms getting worse."
"We'll pass through it soon enough."

Vote for Firefly at http://richlabonte.net/tvvote/index.html

VINTERDRAKEN

Friday, December 8, 2006 4:23 AM

I honestly first thought you were yanking my chain or promoting some text-based chat. But after reading the post, jippi! This is great

You can’t stop the Signal.
Keep spreading the word about Firefly!

BLUEDRAKE

Friday, December 8, 2006 4:25 AM

OMFG... if this game is anything like EVE Online it will totally rock....take that WoW

JVP

Friday, December 8, 2006 4:35 AM

The system/engine/program they're using sounds like a kind of "open source" software program... I don't think it'll have a high production value, and sadly, if they use the engine they've chosen, the operation may never get off the ground.

Cynicism aside, sounds pretty cool.

Hey! What do you two think you're doing? Fighting at a time like this? You'll use up all the air.

ZAKNRFAMA

Friday, December 8, 2006 5:15 AM

We'll just have to wait and see. And if it ends up being poorly done, it still wouldn't be bad, because it would be a Firefly MMO omfg.

BRIGIDSIDHE

Friday, December 8, 2006 5:17 AM

Oh SNAP.

I avoided Warcraft.

I avoided (mostly) Neopets.

I've avoided every online RPG I possibly could

This? THIS is going to be the game that finally sucks me into MMORPGs and kills, once and for all, my gasping freetime.

I relish the prospect.

"Every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sumbitch or another"

RAGEX3

Friday, December 8, 2006 6:01 AM

why are you moaning about it being windows only, if you noobs were using anything other than windows you'd know damn well you can emulate anything to make it work... so just quit crying and looking for reasons to b***h and moan, your ruining the excitement for the rest of us.

MITHICORON

Friday, December 8, 2006 6:10 AM

Hey, I'm new, first post BTW, big MMO'er and browncoat.

So, this is the Big Damn Game? While I am thrilled at the continuation of the 'Verse, I pray it is not the 'verse's final hour. The engine has potential however. If multiverse/whoever develops the game can make it look good, then I'm all for it. But so far from what I've seen from the engine it's a small upgrade from Everquest 1. That doesn't sit well with me.

On a positive note, there is not sight of SOE or EA anywhere.

"'Everything looks good from here. Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive.'

'We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... 'This Land'.'

'I think we should call it...your grave!'

'Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!'

'Ha ha HA! Mine is an evil laugh...now die!'"

WORMY

Friday, December 8, 2006 6:18 AM

I am insanely excited too, but dont get too hyped up, mmorpg fans, because its being made by a small developer using a pre-made engine that has not created any real mmorpgs yet.

But gee, its hard to keep from getting excited.

The name 'Big Damn Game' might be a bad idea, BDG look familiar to any DOOM fans?

CHOO1701

Friday, December 8, 2006 6:50 AM

yep...there goes my life.

With both Stargate AND Firefly i'm screwed.

ALTHOUGH these guys did do Star Wars Galaxy and hopefully they've learn't their lesson from THAT!!!

BTW: how they gonna make sure everybody doesn't run around with Firefly Class ships???

-----------------------------

TRAIN!!!

HAVOK

Friday, December 8, 2006 6:58 AM

They said that they will make something that is different than WoW or SWG. So I'm pretty excited about what it's gonna be. Given that they don't completely F**k it up.

Also, as said earlier, it would be pretty sweet to play as a reaver and eat people alive.

MITHICORON

Friday, December 8, 2006 7:47 AM

actually they didn't do SWG, that's Sony Online Entertainment. the company that's doing the firefly 'verse is Multiverse.

But yes, they can learn from the mistakes of others, which I do hope they do, SWG was a great disappointment.

AGATSU

Friday, December 8, 2006 8:45 AM

I'm intrigued.
Let's hope they don't make the 'Verse too big - I'd prefer detail and atmosphere. Piranha Bytes messed up Gothic 3 big time by making the world huge but rather boring, quest-, character- and story-like.

I'm so into Firefly, my butt glows in the dark.

JORUNE

Friday, December 8, 2006 9:11 AM

I don't think it will work. For any MMORPG to work it must have a compelling story for people to return to and a large community to support it. Now Firefly clearly has both but I think that the community is quite happily doing it's own thing and doesn't really have the time to spend on this.

It's not that don't want to play the MMO but that we're happy doing other stuff.

GOTHWALK

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:35 AM

I think you underestimate the communal power of MMOs, Jorune. If the game is good, there'll be a lot of people playing it. Time will be diverted from other pursuits if the quality is there.

Besides, as you say, it already has both story and community. A lot of MMOs (EVE Online, Everquest, Anarchy Online) have had neither starting out, and been very successful.

http://dukestreet.org/

JACKCOLT

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:57 AM

GREAT NEWS! If it's succesful, it might spawn another series, and that's because a MMO can show true numbers to the executives. If they are good, maybe they decide to try again...

SIMONB

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SnakeCharmer:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72263-0.html?tw=rss.index

Read. Drool. Dream.

Knowing all the things that can go wrong, fall-through, be bad, or just not work with this...I'm trying hard to stay rational and calm about this.

But I can't!!

SHINY!

(if it happens)

- Shiny. Let's be bad guys.

That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die

GOMITHROUS

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:47 PM

Squee! I'm so excited, but now I'm gonna have to make time for this in my busy World of Warcraft schedule.

Beware the Giant, Sock-Eating Purple Llama!!!

SIMONB

Friday, December 8, 2006 12:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gomithrous:
Squee! I'm so excited, but now I'm gonna have to make time for this in my busy World of Warcraft schedule.

Beware the Giant, Sock-Eating Purple Llama!!!

Hello Llama Liberator...

Yeah, me too - I'm one of those who's stuck with SWG (it's not awesome, but I like it well enough) and I was looking at the new SG-1 MMORPG with interest - but now, if this goes ahead and lives up to the potential, I might just have to push both of those aside and go with this one instead!

- Shiny. Let's be bad guys.

That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die

JAWDY

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:02 PM

As many of you have said - "it's only for Windows" - i felt compelled to come on here and set a few records straight (that, and finally speak to some REAL geeks who love FireFly and Serenity!)

The "Multiverse" Client/Server software is currently in closed Beta - and yes, CURRENTLY the Client does only run on WindowsXP (as building a nice front end in DX is fairly simple). There is a test Linux Client, but it's not said to be as stable atm. They're planning on releasing the whole kaboodle in 2007, and at that point both the Client and Server will be cross-platform (Linux and Windows alike). They also reckon that they'll be able to implement OpenGL as well as DX.
So even us Linux nerds can get pretties :D

OK, the other thing was someone mentioned that it doesn't appear to have a lot of investment? Just check out Multiverse's site, and you can see that there's a LOT of investment... AND you can also see their official announcement, which is that they're NOT making the game, just utilising their engine - which to me, sounds fantastic.

First post out of the way - hey all - and im fully prepared to get flamed for this :P

ZZETTA13

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:39 PM

Hello JAWDY, if this is your first post I welcome you here.

Now down to the brass tacks. I myself am an older browncoat, with a family. I do enjoy playing games with my kids sometime. Let me say that I do believe that the main focus of FFfan.net along with the multitude of other fan sites is to have more of the BDS or another BDM. I think ppl love anything FF that we can get but I don't view, the comics, apparel or anything else as a happy sudstitute for any of the crew or actors.

It's pretty simple. WE WANT MORE FIREFLY. I'm very glad that other things are coming up but I hope that the powers that be aren't trying to fill in with a replacement. "That's a long wait for a train don't come."

I'm happy for the ppl that are gamers. I'll readily do it myself but the whole idea is for the show to return and make money. We know that it will and they do too. I read the whole page of the supplied link. Sounded to me like F*X thinks that this something that should be good enough for the fans and it ain't IMO.

Z

JAWDY

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:45 PM

More FF - Oh hell yes!

And in almost every respect i agree with you - we need more Firefly, more films like Serenity... but if they do make a game (which is looking likely) then it needs to be done right, with a powerful engine, beautiful front end, visually impressive environments, characters, objects and ships.

But like you say, an MMO shouldn't be an OR in the FF-'verse it should be an AND!
We should have the FF-MMO AND more FF on TV or Cinema! Unfortunately it looks like the powers that be have sought fit to use the former (or) rather than the latter :-/

GED

Friday, December 8, 2006 1:54 PM

I'm glad Firefly is coming back in some form, but honestly I'd rather have a show than a game.

__________________________________________________
This above all, — to thine ownself be true.
http://www.myspace.com/artv

MRBEN

Friday, December 8, 2006 2:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by JvP:
The system/engine/program they're using sounds like a kind of "open source" software program... I don't think it'll have a high production value, and sadly, if they use the engine they've chosen, the operation may never get off the ground.

FWIW, as far as I can tell Multiverse _isn't_ open source; it's available free to developers, but they take a % online revenues.

There's some more details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_Network - the multiverse website itself is very slow at the moment.

(Out of curiousity, did you think it would have low production value because it was an open source engine, or just because of general doubts about how it would be produced?)

Personally, I think that the best idea would be to produce something where the user community can actually create their own stuff, which the FF community excels at; rather like Second Life.

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

MAGNESS

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:07 PM

Hope the game comes out well...

Fan traffic alone has already brought down the Multiverse site so thats a good indication of "interest". And the fact that its a "Firefly" MMO probably means they are going to set it during the events of the series (so pre-BDM) meaning we should get to see and hear all of our BDH's again. If its like any other MMO we would get missions or whatever from them in-game and the possibilities of this alone are getting me excited. The characters could/should be voiced by the original actors, in-game live events could/should be played by the BDH's themselves, Etc, etc... This could be a Great Game.

I hope it comes out well...
:)

JAWDY

Friday, December 8, 2006 3:20 PM

Having the voices of the original cast playing certain, key roles of their digital counterparts would be phenomenal.

I see at least 2 problems with that though.

1) Being an MMO, for the missions to work, and continue to grow - the script would have to be huge and also continue to expand. A script like Oblivion (where Patrick Stuart played King Uriel Septim, one of the key characters) had many thousands of lines of dialogue - but is a solid universe (so it wont expand).

2) The recent attacking of the Video Game market by actors and voice actors alike over pay.

CAPTAINJOSH06

Friday, December 8, 2006 5:41 PM

Im hopin this is a disc bought game, as it would be hard for me if it is a pay as you go like thing.
As in pay every month to play, but in my eyes it should be sold on a disc or DVD in shops or buy it off the internet or even like EA are doing with Battleifeld 2 series, you buy to download the expansion packs.

TIGER

Friday, December 8, 2006 5:58 PM

Maybe some of you experts could explain to us video game newbies about MMORPG. I know it stands for massive-multiplayer-something-something, but that doesn't really tell me what these games are like. I gather they aren't traditional games with levels and missions and so forth (keep in mind the only game I've played with any regularity in the last 7-8 years is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six).

I get the feeling that MMORPGs are very involved, take a big time investment, and can be difficult to learn. I'm not going to waste my time with some game filled with elves and dwarves and what not, but since it's Firefly I REALLY want to get the scoop.

MATTCOZ

Friday, December 8, 2006 6:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mrben:
There's some more details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_Network - the multiverse website itself is very slow at the moment.

Not very reassuring that their website can't handle the flood of Firefly fans.

ZEEK

Friday, December 8, 2006 6:24 PM

This is exciting news because Firefly is still getting some attention. It's not exciting because this game won't be able to reproduce what we loved about Firefly.

At least not what I loved. I don't care so much about a giant verse filled with gamers trying to kill each other. I care about our small little crew and who they were. I don't care about fighting the alliance or for the alliance or smuggling. I cared about the funny.

I just don't see myself getting sucked into this game. Even though I consider myself a huge Firefly fan.

SIGMANUNKI

Friday, December 8, 2006 7:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RageX3:
why are you moaning about it being windows only, if you noobs were using anything other than windows you'd know damn well you can emulate anything to make it work... so just quit crying and looking for reasons to b***h and moan, your ruining the excitement for the rest of us.

1) How does using an OS other than windows make people "noobs"?

2) Emulation comes at a cost. Enough to make running games in emulation problematic for most, if even just to get it running.

But, let's say I'm wrong. Let's say that there is a wonderful way to emulate windows on my Mac mini PPC. What is it?

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

KURYA

Friday, December 8, 2006 7:16 PM

First and foremost welcome to all of the new people to this forum, its a shiny place, and I hope you will stick around and post!! And just a note, anyone who considers themselves a browncaot would not flame anyone else (nor use the term noob, we dont think we are better than new people and we want new people to join our fandom). There is no such thing as a stupid question(well for the most part hehe). The fans on this site and other firefly fan sites like serenitymovie.org or serenitymovie.net or whedonesque.com or the prospero board, are a friendly and happy bunch.

Anyways onto the game, the not so good sign about firefly fans crashing their server, in a sense since it means that there are a lot of people still interested in firefly even 1+ years after the movie, and no sequel in sight(Joss is interested just waitng for that phone call from Universal, which hopefully will happen in the next few years).

Im not a gamer, but I will take this as good news. Not only does this give more exposure to firefly/serenity(every little bit helps), but it can hopefully if done well maybe get more mainstream attraction, and if it is sucessful with a good amount of people playing, the studios may be interested in making another tv series or another movie. Yes I know, I am quixotic and unrealistic , but that comes with the territory of being a browncoat!

SIGMANUNKI

Friday, December 8, 2006 7:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mattcoz:

Not very reassuring that their website can't handle the flood of Firefly fans.

Actually, it's more than just FFFs. They're getting /.'ed. So, I wouldn't blame them for not being able to handle that traffic. Getting /.'ed basically shuts down most sites.

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

JACKCOLT

Friday, December 8, 2006 7:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Tiger:
Maybe some of you experts could explain to us video game newbies about MMORPG. I know it stands for massive-multiplayer-something-something, but that doesn't really tell me what these games are like. I gather they aren't traditional games with levels and missions and so forth (keep in mind the only game I've played with any regularity in the last 7-8 years is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six).

I get the feeling that MMORPGs are very involved, take a big time investment, and can be difficult to learn. I'm not going to waste my time with some game filled with elves and dwarves and what not, but since it's Firefly I REALLY want to get the scoop.

Rather than explaining a lot myself, I suggest you check this page on wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mmorpg

SIGMANUNKI

Friday, December 8, 2006 7:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mrben:

Personally, I think that the best idea would be to produce something where the user community can actually create their own stuff, which the FF community excels at; rather like Second Life.

This was actually what we were doing, though in a single player game. But, I have decided that getting sued because of licensing issues isn't worth it (remember the t-shirt fiasco). I/we'll be moving onto other projects, hopefully FF related... I have a couple ideas... we'll see.

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

SNAKECHARMER

Friday, December 8, 2006 8:48 PM

Another FYI, a fan has made the following forums in support of the game:

www.firefly-mmo.com

JONESTEIN

Friday, December 8, 2006 9:26 PM

Shiny, can't wait!

-Jonestein
*************************************
OPERATIVE: ...and I'm unarmed.
MAL: Good.
(BLAM!)

www.bigdamnverse.net

TIGER

Friday, December 8, 2006 9:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jackcolt:
Quote:
Originally posted by Tiger:
Maybe some of you experts could explain to us video game newbies about MMORPG. I know it stands for massive-multiplayer-something-something, but that doesn't really tell me what these games are like. I gather they aren't traditional games with levels and missions and so forth (keep in mind the only game I've played with any regularity in the last 7-8 years is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six).

I get the feeling that MMORPGs are very involved, take a big time investment, and can be difficult to learn. I'm not going to waste my time with some game filled with elves and dwarves and what not, but since it's Firefly I REALLY want to get the scoop.

Rather than explaining a lot myself, I suggest you check this page on wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mmorpg

Thanks for the link. Wikipedia was actually one of the first places I checked, but it didn't really tell me what the games are like.

I get that they are a bunch of people all looking like characters from the show in a virtual world. But what do you do once you're in there? The wiki article mentions quests and missions, but how do those work if everybody is a player and there's no "bad guys"? Is there a beginning and an end, or does it go on forever?

You can see how little I know about this stuff.

ZEEK

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Tiger:
I get that they are a bunch of people all looking like characters from the show in a virtual world. But what do you do once you're in there? The wiki article mentions quests and missions, but how do those work if everybody is a player and there's no "bad guys"? Is there a beginning and an end, or does it go on forever?

You can see how little I know about this stuff.

I've never actually gotten into MMORPGs myself but my understanding is there are still computer controlled "bad guys". They spawn and respawn for people to kill them over and over if they choose. Though I don't think they're all about fighting bad guys. You can just decide to be a smuggler and deal in trade for your game. There is no beginning and end. There is just a world for you to run around and explore basically.

Usually they add new quests or areas over time so there are new things to do. The only quests I can really tell you about are the ones I briefly played in a WoW beta. They had me go kill 6 of a certain type of creature and collect the pelts. Then after that they upgraded it to killing 6 of 2 types of creatures that were slightly stronger. I didn't find this too exciting. I found it more time consuming. Which is sorta the goal of a pay to play game.

TIGER

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeek:

I've never actually gotten into MMORPGs myself but my understanding is there are still computer controlled "bad guys". They spawn and respawn for people to kill them over and over if they choose. Though I don't think they're all about fighting bad guys. You can just decide to be a smuggler and deal in trade for your game. There is no beginning and end. There is just a world for you to run around and explore basically.

Usually they add new quests or areas over time so there are new things to do. The only quests I can really tell you about are the ones I briefly played in a WoW beta. They had me go kill 6 of a certain type of creature and collect the pelts. Then after that they upgraded it to killing 6 of 2 types of creatures that were slightly stronger. I didn't find this too exciting. I found it more time consuming. Which is sorta the goal of a pay to play game.

That explains a lot, thanks. I wonder how the Firefly MMO will work, considering the Firefly universe actually contains dozens of worlds. Will everyone have their own spaceship? Will you have to save up money and buy one? I'm curious to find out.

ZEEK

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Tiger:
That explains a lot, thanks. I wonder how the Firefly MMO will work, considering the Firefly universe actually contains dozens of worlds. Will everyone have their own spaceship? Will you have to save up money and buy one? I'm curious to find out.

In my understanding the Star Wars MMO game started out just with some sort of "transport" thing. Where you would just sorta go to a airport or maybe a spaceport and take a transport ship to another planet.

Later they came out with an expansion where you could buy your own ship.

I would certainly hope that you can have your own ship right from the start of the Firefly game. I would think most people would be trying to recreate their own little Firefly's. Taking jobs that they can find and such.

HERA7

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:19 PM

In MMORPGs there are basically two types of games, PvE and PvP. PvE is Player vs Environment, where you have your character's main source of conflict with computer generated adversaries or MOBs (Mobiles). PvP is Player vs Player, where your main adversaries are the other players. Some PvP games are more like Team vs Team than single player vs single player. Many online games incorporate both PvE and PvP elements.

Often times players will form informal groups or parties to accomplish a short term goal. Player can form long term groups which are known as clans, guilds, corporations, squads or crews depending on the game environment.

Some games, players are all on the same basic 'side,' others have groups/races/nations/professions that are naturally at conflict with each other.

Story in MMORPGs is written by the game developers and non-player characters are set up with dialog to help promote the story. NPCs also can serve as shopkeepers and quest givers. For major events, gamemasters will take over some of the non-player roles to expand the experience and promote the storyline.

The most predominate MMORPGs right now are graphical first/third person Fantasy, though Science Fiction themed games are making a strong showing.

I started playing MMORPGs in 1996 with a text based game called Gemstone II, then switching to Dragonrealms when it opened up. I have played many of the graphical online games, but none held my attention like WW2 Online which is fairly unique in the MMORPG arena.

Several MMORPGs have failed in the last few years due to lack of players or lack of funding. Graphics is what attracts people initially but good content is what is needed keep going for the long run. Some games have outstanding visuals but lack of content dooms them to an early death.

There are several disertations on the web about MMORPGs, everything from game design to the gamer culture.

I really hope they get a good design team for the Firefly Online game, and don't try to release it too early.

Hope this helps with a short description on MMORPGs.

Hera7

Mechanic & Cook
"So thats where that bolt went to."

TIGER

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:24 PM

Thanks for all the info you guys. It sounds like something I'd definitely be interested in for the Firefly 'verse. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

JACKCOLT

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:33 PM

I hope that the Firefly will be unique, or at least combine the best aspects of the different MMO models.

One of the most frequent used model is the one Blizzard has perfected in WoW, the fantasy model.

When you first load the game you'll come to a character creation screen where you can select name, race or alligience, class, gender and apperence. In some games you also get to allocate stat points to different. Those stats affect how good you are in certain areas such as spell casting or melee combat.

When your character first enters the world, you'll most likely enter the game in the start city for that race you selected, with a series of tutorial quests. Starting Quests that are designed to get you going, in terms of learning you the game and giving you based enquipment. You receive quests(starting and ordinary) from NPCs or Non-player-character. NPCs generally either have a quest, or at least have something to do with a quest, or they are merchants. There are other functions of the NPCs, but those appears in all MMOs.

A quest will give an objective you have to solve. One of the might be to go talk to somebody and come back. When the objective has been accomplished you'll get a reward, such as experience or gold.

Other computer controlled beings are critters and creeps. Critters are harmless creatures designed to look cute or add something to the atmosphere. Creeps are those you kill to solve objectives in a quest, or to simply get xp(experience) + gold/items.

When you have enough xp you'll level. When you level you get access to new equipment, new abilities and spells, and you often get more stat points which you can allocate to what you see fit.

Player interaction: You can party up with players, meaning you can team up with them and go hunting for quicker experience. Sometimes you get long lasting friendships out of this. In some games you can also dual other players, or simply kill them if you find them outside towns. Depending on the game, the penalty of the dying(death penalty or dp) can vary from decreased stats in 5 minutes to loosing everything you had on you.

The objective of the game, is actually to live in the world, make friends and become more powerful. Depending on the game, you can make your own items or perhaps even houses or towns! You can fish, collect flowers or cut wood, mine minerals, all depending on the game. You'll live in a virtual world in seek of socialization, competition, power or simply a mixture of it all.

I think that covers the basics. MMOs are generally very different, so best thing to do if you want to get a feel for a fantasy mmo, is to try the World of Warcraft trials, since it's the easiest mmo to start with.

I think Firefly will be somewhat different from your ordinary mmo, but it's garentied to share some of the same features

--- Sorry for any grammar, punctionation or spelling errors, but I'm too lazy to read it through ---

Any questions?

DARKFLY

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:37 PM

WIcked,cool,ultra cool,mega cool,shiny,gorram shiny,briilant,can't wait,OMG,OMFG,hubba hubba,mmmmmmmmmmmm,great,ect

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Things are about to get interesting...Define interesting...Oh GOD oh GOD we're all going to die.

Vote for Summer Glau(remember case sensitive) at http://www.kolumbus.fi/raine.maattanen/final_cut/

Go to

to see my cool trailer.

MOTHMAN

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:59 PM

I'm excited to hear about the possibility of a FF MMORPG.... Firefly and MMORPG... two of the bestest things combined! Sweet!

However, I'm cautious....

What made FF so great was the characters... yes the 'verse was a great backdrop, but it was just that... a backdrop.

Take away the characters (which you need to do in a MMORPG... the world will be filled with "generic" player characters) and the game will need something special to make it different than "some other MMORPG" with a country-ish twist.

So... I am excited to see where this goes.

But, I am cautiously excited.

TIGER

Friday, December 8, 2006 11:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jackcolt:
I hope that the Firefly will be unique, or at least combine the best aspects of the different MMO models.

One of the most frequent used model is the one Blizzard has perfected in WoW, the fantasy model.

When you first load the game you'll come to a character creation screen where you can...
... Firefly will be somewhat different from your ordinary mmo, but it's garentied to share some of the same features

Any questions?

More than I ever needed to know, thanks! I have a very clear idea of how these things work now. It looks like I'll be waiting a while for it though - and aren't video game releases notorious for being delayed? I'm sure I'll buy it whenever it comes out.

CHRISTOPHERLIRETTE

Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:00 AM

Hiya! I am new to the forums, but have visited this website for quite a long time now.

Anyway, stumbled upon the news today...And, am very excited about it. So, decided to already get more involved.

Just thinking about the game. And, thought I would bring up some questions we could think about together.

Do you think it will have to have a crew of people to operate a ship, much like the show? Will planets be accessbile (Cause I know how eve's arent)? Will people choose their destiny from the begining (alliance, browncoat, etc.)?

Even more so, do you think their will be a war going on at all?

Also, someone brought up being a reaver, and eating people...that would be cool.

there are just so many possibilities to this game.

w00t

KAZZ

Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:03 AM

hi. first post.

http://kazzia.blogspot.com/2006/12/firefly-mmo.html

the ability to "level up" in a way that doesn't involve killing would also be muchly appreciated and very much in the spirit of the show.

you know, even if the game were a simple form of cops & robbers, with browncoat players trying to make a fortune through smuggling, and alliance players trying to nab them, it'd still be 90% more interesting than most other MMOs.

SIRI

Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by zzetta13:
I see this as a good thing but I still want the cast and crew back on television or the BDS (big damn screen).

F*X is milking every penny out of something that should be back on the airwaves and they know it.

Z

Good to see any Firefly exposure but I kind of agree with Z on the "milking" thing.

Siri

HELL'S KITTEN

Saturday, December 9, 2006 2:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mrben:
Personally, I think that the best idea would be to produce something where the user community can actually create their own stuff, which the FF community excels at; rather like Second Life.

Heh. Second Life. Have you seen this?

http://www.rikomatic.com/blog/2006/08/serenity_lives_.html

Sorry if this is old news, as I'm sure it is, but it's a neat "Second Life" place to visit.

************************************************
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sara013

SAB39

Saturday, December 9, 2006 3:22 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeek:
In my understanding the Star Wars MMO game started out just with some sort of "transport" thing. Where you would just sorta go to a airport or maybe a spaceport and take a transport ship to another planet.

You're not looking at the destinations. You're looking at the ships. And mine's the nicest.

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeek:
Later they came out with an expansion where you could buy your own ship.

You buy this ship, treat her proper, she'll be with you the rest of your life...

DRACOS

Saturday, December 9, 2006 3:45 AM

So basically, what they're saying here is that Fox have given the license to a company that does not make games, but has made a piece of software (an unfinished piece of software). And that this company, whenever it finishes it's software, will then choose some random team of likely amateur developers to develop a highly sophisticated second piece of software.

Now, I want to be giddy as much as the rest of you fine folks, and the last thing I wanted was to make my first return post on this site a somewhat down one... But at this stage, color me skeptical. I just can't bring myself to trust this at this stage in time.

Really though, what we ought to be talking now is game-play logistics and what we really want out of a game, and then keeping those written down and organized. That way we can send them off to the developer when one is announced and let 'em know what it'll take to keep us laying down fifteen bucks a month.

Also, hi everybody. How's things?

Done,
-Dracos

******

Back from the dead, to kick you in the bread.

ATTICUS

Saturday, December 9, 2006 5:37 AM

Well like someone said further up if this is just some way for Fox to "test the water" as far as the succes of another firefly series goes then i say we should definately try and make this game succesful when it comes out. I just hope that it does justice to the awesomeitude of the series...

ATTICUS

Saturday, December 9, 2006 6:01 AM

also i would just like to point out that this forum is quite possibly the biggest grouping of cannibals i have ever come across... and that is funny.

THEJOHNCHENG

Saturday, December 9, 2006 7:12 AM

I saw this thread and now I am scared. MMORPGs are addicting, and I don't want this game to be the end of me. I'm excited and scared. I really hope they do justice to the series though.

Check out my classical videogame cover band at www.selectstartband.com

CHRISTOPHERLIRETTE

Saturday, December 9, 2006 8:12 AM

ok...here is where I am confused. Or, maybe not so confused.

Fox Entertainment (the part of fox that makes its video games) has a good working relationship with Sierra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Entertainment

Does this mean that we could definatly see Sierra Entertainment working on the Firefly MMORPG in the future?

It seems to me that it would be a good step for both companies. I mean Sierra is for the most part out of the MMO market, and this could be a good entrance for em. And, Fox entertainment would most likely go to their go to company for games for the best quality product possbile, because that in turn means more cash for them.

I dunno, but if Sierra works on Firefly, alot of my doubts have already subsided.

If we could even go one step further? and say that valve takes on the process of making the game? what with Steam helping to sell it? And Fox, and Sierra backing the publishing.

Mind you these are all random hypothesis, but I would say that there is a good chance Sierra will have some hand in the product.

If any of you do not play video games, or are confused about the company that sierra is, that helped publish such games as Half life, Half life 2, F.E.A.R., Aliens Versus Predator (A fox franchise).

However, there is a downside to all of this. Sierra which is owned by Vivendi Games, also owns Blizzard Entertainment which are the makers of the hit game World of Warcraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivendi_Games

One can only wonder if sierra will even get to take on a product that might interfere with W.O.W.'s sales.

Alot of these are just educated guesses. But it would still be cool to see a quality game maker, help in making what could possibly be a great video game.

w00t

XANDER2061

Saturday, December 9, 2006 8:13 AM

I dont get it. Is this going to be a real commercial game that youll see in the shops, read reviews about. Or is it just going to be another one of the games on the website that ive never heard of.

Dont get me wrong im looking forward to playing it no matter what.

JALE

Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:20 PM

Looks to me like its going to be a downloadable something, rather than in the shops. Judging by the nerdy interest in the property, we will still see reviews of it on websites. This means it likely will have a far lower fee than games like World of Warcraft.

If I had my way...

The space portions would play out like the X series of games...pilot the ship around with a detailed in-cockpit view, get a news ticker hinting at jobs at space stations etc...

Planet landings would be just like zoning (ie not passing through the atmosphere...thats just too much to hope for) but once on the ground its like a traditional MMO...3rd person view

Planets would consist of two or three cities/towns, and plenty of wilderness in the case of border planets

There would be a nice variety of ships available, and the ability to walk away from the controls while on autopilot, ala SWG: Jump to Lightspeed, and stroll around the ship.

This is a key addition: REAL SKILL LEVELLING. I hate the whole thing of just getting experience, as an idea of Firefly. Ugh. What I would prefer are minigames related to skills. For example, shooting. You do a shooting gallery test, and if you manage to pass, you get a higher skill in shooting, and evermore is your skill at shooting a handgun (accuracy) better. Or piloting, hitting the right switches and so forth, like a driving test, allowing you new skills...so if you can hit the sequence of controls to perform a Crazy Ivan once, in a real cockpit with all the switches, then you can perform one in game.

A single player game as the 'tutorial'. Mal didn't start out a pilot, he was a soldier and then a random guy. To choose an independant life I think there should be a reasonable (5 hour ish) single player game in which as well as learning controls, you start to build up into your character, starting off in the war and ending up with your ship.

Second-Life style customisation of clothes. Or, at least, City of Heroes levels of customisation. What I mean by this is preferably you would be able to design your own clothes, and failing that just have masses of options.

JAWDY

Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:59 PM

I was thinking about how cool it would be if this game was on the Wii!

I mean, you shoot with the Wii-mote; you wanna fly a ship? Hold the 'mote and 'chuck like the flight-stick on Serenity, and you're flying.

There are many more ways of making it interactive - like how Call of Duty 3 (Wii) does (paddling an oar in a dingy, fighting off people who jump you, driving cars - that sort of thing).
Not sure how well it would work as an MMO, but would be fantastic fun!

Some people have asked for real skill levelling - check out Oblivion for that, they do it brilliantly. And other people wanted "not level levelling" - check out EVEOnline... in Eve, you don't "level" per se, you buy skills that you download into your implants (obviously this is not how it would work in an FF-MMO, but you get the idea) and then it takes time to increase in level for _that_ skill... and you can only increase one skill at a time.
Some variant on the two of those methods at the same time would rock.

Oh, and other people had mentioned that they're site going down is a bad indication - well, i managed to get _some_ info of it before it died... the average player would use around 5kbps or network bandwidth/traffic when communicating with the games central server. So 100 players becomes around 500kbps - a thousand 5000kbps (or 5mbps) and so on. Commercial gaming servers will be running off of gigabit lines, from the math that i'm doing just here (1gbps = 1000mbps = 1000000kbps) you can get 200'000 players off just one gigabit line, and that's if they're sending their average all the time (which the wont and don't).
Erm, i got lost somewhere, let me see if i can find my point!
Nope, can't... nevermind.

XANDER2061

Saturday, December 9, 2006 1:04 PM

They sound like some good ideas Jale, especially the part about it not being just about experience.

Does anyone know hoe eve online works? If your flying a ship and fighting, is it in real time like a space sim?

JALE

Saturday, December 9, 2006 1:34 PM

Well you fly around in real time, but the combat is more about what you go into battle with than actually targetting anyone. If you want a really deep, trade/space fight simulator, Get X3: Reunion, or if you dont have the power to run that, X2: The Threat. They are offline but much of the 'Firefly' experience is here...trading, spacewalks, salvaging

EVE is pretty much that but to the extreme. Most of the stuff that the crew do in space, you can do in EVE. However, both EVE and the X Series are the same old staid 'better world' kina idea.

WADEM

Saturday, December 9, 2006 2:51 PM

Howdy all!

I've created a website dedicated to the discussion of the Firefly MMORPG. Feel free to check it out, register, make a post.

Hope to see you there!

Owner / Admin - www.firefly-mmo.com

MICJWELCH

Saturday, December 9, 2006 3:38 PM

Hey, if any of you recognize me you'll know that I haven't been on here in a while. But this is most definitely something that can get my attention. And actually, I tried to post yesterday but this site was having almost as much trouble as www.multiverse.net (which, btw, is up again).

Apparently what multiverse is trying to do is make one program that can play a number of different games.

Their home page links to an article that partially reads "Which is the future of virtual worlds? Experts or the masses? Multiverse appears to be hedging its bets by allowing its tool set to be used by either." I think this is a similar mindset as the Unreal Tournament games, which ship with the editor. This is shiny beyond belief if you ask me. Part of the glory of pc games over consoles is that we can have some control over them ourselves. The extent of that control is going to be determined by whoever actually makes it in the first place, but I really hope to be able to go into 3ds max and make my own character model, or even my own ship. That's what I'm hoping for.

This is a definite success. Not only do we get our Firefly fix, but it's a way to bring more people in to the show.

"We may experience some slight turbulence, and then... explode."

JORUNE

Saturday, December 9, 2006 4:21 PM

Here hoping we can have both. I do wonder how the game world will work, in the series there's lots of Alliance and few independents.

I believe in the game there will be lots and lots of independents and not much Alliance. How will the game story/balance work?

THEJOHNCHENG

Saturday, December 9, 2006 4:37 PM

Wow Jawdy and Jale, you guys have really thought about this alot. I personally wouldn't mind seeing the game on the Wii, and I am so happy to see the fans of this show growing. I know that it doesn't even matter how the game comes out, I'm going to play it.

FISKMASEN

Saturday, December 9, 2006 5:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeek:
This is exciting news because Firefly is still getting some attention. It's not exciting because this game won't be able to reproduce what we loved about Firefly.

At least not what I loved. I don't care so much about a giant verse filled with gamers trying to kill each other. I care about our small little crew and who they were. I don't care about fighting the alliance or for the alliance or smuggling. I cared about the funny.

I just don't see myself getting sucked into this game. Even though I consider myself a huge Firefly fan.

Couldn't agree with you less. I'm a game-geek, but I would much rather have the TV-show back, instead of some lame excuse. What I want is to be able to follow our BDH's again, and not having some static NPC version of them in a MMORPG. Where's the feeling of Firefly in that?
Instead, give me a Freelancer within the Firefly universe (Freelancer, for those who doesn't know is a singleplayer space-simulator with Multiplayer support).

"Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I'm going to beat you with 'til you know who's in ruttin' command here!"

SHADOWLEOPARD

Saturday, December 9, 2006 6:15 PM

My official response is: eh. I'm not a big MMORPG guy, but it could be cool. I also think that Fox is thinking they can milk $15 a month from Browncoats while producing a somewhat lame game.

We'd all like them to just put the damn show back on the air. Of course, it's more complicated than that - actors, writers, etc. have moved on, and they'd have to be corralled back together to make it all work.

Random thought: What if it were a spinoff, and the game focused on the Unification War instead of Firefly's place in the timeline?

COLDREDNES

Saturday, December 9, 2006 7:02 PM

Damn, I cant wait to play as a Brown Coat

Just Joined the site and Firefly is my favorite show, I watch through the series all the time such quality

CAPTAINJOSH06

Saturday, December 9, 2006 7:13 PM

I have a thread open for a few days now talking about what a game like this would actualy be like and now there is, kwl.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=25628

I also found more info on it:
http://multiverse.net/press/pr20061207.jsp?cid=6&scid=9

XANDER2061

Saturday, December 9, 2006 11:32 PM

See thats whats putting me off of EVE. I will still play this game if it is like eve though, so long as it is good.

Are their no online space sims where you can actually play as if it were a regular space sim, i.e. its not all down to your stats, you have to actually play some as well.

JVP

Sunday, December 10, 2006 12:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mrben:
FWIW, as far as I can tell Multiverse _isn't_ open source; it's available free to developers, but they take a % online revenues.

There's some more details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_Network - the multiverse website itself is very slow at the moment.

(Out of curiousity, did you think it would have low production value because it was an open source engine, or just because of general doubts about how it would be produced?)

'S why I put it in quotes. The engine itself is free to developers, and isn't a devoted, high quality engine. It's a utility engine of sorts. For all your MMORPG needs.

I still think/FEAR it'll have low production value because of the engine, and doubts about how it'll be produced. This is more of a fear than anything (I'm one of the suckers who followed PROJECT EGO (everyone else'll know it as FABLE) from day one, and five years later, we get what we got).

~
How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don't you think?

A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything.

That hat makes you look like an idiot.

ELDUSTO

Sunday, December 10, 2006 1:28 AM

Just thought I'd add another link to some reading material on the MMORPG.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162937.html
I'm not a big fan of MMORPGs, in fact, I don't play them at all. Maybe if this was a third person adventure game like BtVS was, I'd buy it.

http://www.geocities.com/neo_ultimate_d - The Homepage
http://www.myspace.com/eldusto - The Myspace page

MRBEN

Sunday, December 10, 2006 9:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JvP:
'S why I put it in quotes. The engine itself is free to developers, and isn't a devoted, high quality engine. It's a utility engine of sorts. For all your MMORPG needs.

I still think/FEAR it'll have low production value because of the engine, and doubts about how it'll be produced.

You do understand that most games are built on a "utility" engine, yes? Certainly in the FPS world this has been true for a long time, but I know it's also true in the MMORPG world. Very few games these days have a "dedicated" engine.

Now, I'm not saying that Multiverse is going to succeed with their particular business model, nor that I know either way about their engine. But using an engine to build the game is by no means a harbinger of doom.

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

CAPTAINJOSH06

Sunday, December 10, 2006 11:33 AM

Im alittle offended by that Sci Fi Geek thing, how dare they, Browncoats are a community of fans not Sci Fi geeks....

M10

Monday, December 11, 2006 1:06 AM

I'd be willing to bet this thing will never see the light of day. There's a big difference between acquiring the license for the property and actually completing a game.

JOSH

Monday, December 11, 2006 6:09 AM

Wow, if any of you remember me trying to get contact info for universal/fox licensing, this is what my group was trying to get pushed. Well now I know why they stonewalled us, damn, I dont really like this company anyways...

GEORDIESTEVE2003

Monday, December 11, 2006 12:02 PM

This is excellent news, because with something like Star Wars, a lot of the universe is already mapped out, like you know there is the ice planet Hoth, or the forest planet of Endor and the Ewoks etc, but with Firefly it's all new, shiny, and they can be massively creative.

Also the type of characters you could be will be interesting, whether its, Alliance or Browncoat (well duh, what are most people going to go for) and how they split them into groups, like doctor, mechanic, mercenary, etc. I hope you can create your own person and build your own career.

Looking forward to this very much, I also hope they take their time and make it good, rather than rush it and produce a piece of brown stuff.

There must be hundreds of ideas for places and stories on here, I would gladly sign away all rights to my story and the ideas theirin, if they were used in the game. A wealth of material to tap, right here!!!

BROWNCOAT1

Monday, December 11, 2006 12:39 PM

Heard about this on Thursday & I must say it made my long weekend oh so more enjoyable.

I for one will be following the development of this MMO with much interest. I have already warned my wife when it goes live to expect to lose me a couple of hours a day.

Wonder how they will work acquiring a ship. I would like to have a boat and pick up some crew from the shiny people here at FFF.net.

__________________________________________
Holding the line since December '02!

[img] [/img]

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/richmondbrowncoats/

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

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